


So tell your mother that you love her dearly

by ToshiChan



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Angst, Family Drama, Family Feels, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Injury Recovery, Major Character Injury, References to Depression, Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Sacrifice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-18
Updated: 2019-09-18
Packaged: 2020-10-21 03:54:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20687069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToshiChan/pseuds/ToshiChan
Summary: Della and Louie need to talk





	So tell your mother that you love her dearly

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers from Timephoon onwards

There was nothing nicer than collapsing into bed after a long day of adventure and danger and nearly getting killed by an invading moon army. Ask any of the Duck brothers and they’d all agree, with one vocalising this more than the others. Said duck, Louie, couldn’t even be bothered to get into his pyjamas, simply choosing just to flop onto his mattress and close his eyes. Any second now he could fall asleep and wouldn’t that be nice. It had been a really long day. He ached all over from all the things they’d done and he wasn’t sure his heartbeat was quite back to its normal pace yet.

“Louie, we’re gonna go say goodnight to everyone.” Dewey was cruel enough to interrupt Louie’s upcoming slumber, though the youngest triplet kept his eyes shut. “Coming?”

It was a good idea. A day like today couldn’t just be forgotten. They’d come so close to losing each other. It’d be nice to wander the mansion and check in with everyone, make sure they were all okay.

But…

_“…if you wanna be a part of this family, you gotta stop…”_

There was still some sort of dark cloud hovering over Louie and Della’s relationship, one Louie had yet to figure out. All he knew about it was that it made him feel like more of an outsider than ever, and part of him was sure he deserved that.

So, as Huey and Dewey got ready to run around and say goodnight to their family, Louie pretended he was already asleep and let them run off together. The echoes of his mum’s words rattled around his head as they left.

_“If you wanna be a part of this family…”_

She was right. All he ever did was hurt everyone and screw up. He didn’t belong in this family at all.

* * *

Cleaning up Duckberg took a while. Louie was more than happy to take to the streets and help, feeling a great deal of guilt over the whole mess since he’d effectively played a huge part in allowing the moon invaders to arrive on Earth. It was nice that the rest of the Duck family were right at his side the whole time. It made Louie feel less like he was in the spotlight and more like a regular old citizen doing his bit to help. He didn’t need the eyes of the town on him. It was better for everyone if they didn’t know about what he’d done.

They were downtown one day, sweeping away rubble and washing down the ash smeared streets when Huey drew Louie aside.

“Is everything okay?” The eldest triplet wanted to know.

“Huh?” Louie had been more focused on making sure Dewey didn’t spray him with the high-pressure hose Della had let him have for some reason and didn’t quite register the question at first.

“Are you alright?” Huey rephrased.

“Yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?” Louie glanced away nervously.

“You’ve just been really quiet lately.”

“Well, I don’t have much to say.” Louie tried to joke. “Oh look, someone let Webby drive the bulldozer.”

“Huh? Where? Who?” Huey was easily distracted by the sound of someone being irresponsible. Louie watched him run off in the direction of their sister and quickly hurried off the other way. He didn’t to drag his brothers down with even more of his problems. This was just a bump in the road that would pass eventually and Louie wouldn’t even remember why he’d been upset in the first place.

Hopefully. Probably. Maybe.

The sigh he let out was a deep one, world weary and tired. This was all so confusing. How was he meant to know what to do? He wasn’t used to having a mum, let alone knowing how to act around her. There’d never been this much tension in the family before, not even when Dewey had kept the secret about Della. That being said, it didn’t feel like the others were even aware of the tension. Maybe it was all just in Louie’s head. Maybe he needed to grow up and get over this.

Right?

* * *

“Are you angry at mum?”

“Huh?” Louie almost choked on the sip of Pep he’d just taken. He’d snuck away to a secluded part of the manor and was hoping to be left alone but it seemed Dewey had tracked him down. “Why would I be angry with Della?”

“I mean, you’re calling her Della.” Dewey pointed out.

Louie hadn’t even noticed.

“I’m not angry with mum.” Louie said firmly. “Nothing’s wrong.”

“So this isn’t about when she grounded you?”

“No!” Louie spluttered. “She had every right to. I was being an inconsiderate jerk. Everything she said was right.”

_“Look…your plans…your schemes…they only lead to bad things for you family. If you wanna be a part of this family, you gotta stop.”_

“Really?” Dewey had a bit of a problem with respecting boundaries.

“Yes.” Louie forced himself to sound casual and laidback. “Nothing’s wrong, Dewey. Trust me.”

“Alright.” Dewey said, a touch reluctantly. “You know you can talk to me, right. Me and Huey.”

_Oh, like you talked to us when you found out about mum?_

He didn’t voice those thoughts, knowing they’d only lead to trouble, just like everything else he said did.

_“Gee, I wonder who I got that from.”_

“I know.” Louie said instead, because he was going to be a better person now and that meant not letting others had to try and fix his problems. “Oh, I think Webby was looking for you.”

“Cool! We’re gonna play war games. Wanna come?”

“No thanks.” Louie took another casual sip of Pep. “Gotta drink this while it’s fresh.”

“Alright.” Dewey accepted this. “See you around. Maybe we’ll go on an adventure later.”

“Maybe.” Louie said, but he hoped not.

After all, it wasn’t like he was good at them anymore.

* * *

They ended up going on an adventure two days later, to an apparently uninhabited cave that had rumours of mysterious happenings. Basically, everyone said it was haunted.

The adventure felt more crowded than ever, with the four kids plus Lena, Uncle Donald, Della, Uncle Scrooge and Launchpad all involved. On the one hand, it made Louie nervous, being around so many people. On the other hand, it meant there was less chance he’d be expected to do anything and inevitably end up letting them all down. Louie was more than happy to sit back and let Huey, Dewey and Webby handle the action while the various adults alternated between shouting encouragement, offering helpful information and squabbling with each other.

Lena hung back too, trailing alongside Louie and kicking at any lose rocks she found in the cave. She occasionally piped up to voice her disinterest, since apparently she’d only tagged along because Webby had insisted.

“She thought I’d be good at this, what with all my dark arts magic.” Lena wiggled her fingers as she explained this to Louie.

“Sense anything?” Louie asked a touch playfully.

“Idiots.” She replied promptly. “A lot of them.”

Louie snickered, enjoying the joke before he instantly felt bad. He wasn’t meant to be doing stuff like that anymore. If he wanted to belong, he had to stop hurting the others. So what if it was just a joke? Jokes could hurt.

“Why aren’t you up there with them?” Lena asked curiously, startling Louie enough that he nearly stumbled on one of the rocks she’d been kicking. “Doing your thing, seeing the angles or whatever it was Webby told me you do.”

“Uh…” Louie was momentarily at a loss for words, which was somewhat rare when you considered that he usually talked his way into things and out of them. “Why do you care?”

Lena chuckled. “Touchy.”

“I’m not feeling it today.” Louie offered.

“Scared of the dark?”

“What, no.”

“Of ghosts?”

“After everything we’ve seen? No way.”

“Scared of them?”

“…what?”

“Are you scared of them. Your family.”

“That’s stupid.” Louie huffed even as his heartbeat rocketed upwards.

“Webby says you’ve been weird lately.”

“I thought you thought I was weird all the time.”

“I do, but Webby doesn’t. She’s nice like that.” Lena shrugged.

“Why do you care?” Louie found himself repeating.

Lena’s eyes flashed in the dark. “Because Webby cares.”

“Right.” Louie drawled. “You can tell her I’m fine. Nothing’s wrong.”

_I’m sorry for worrying her. I’m sorry I keep doing this._

“Yeah right.”

“Seriously.” Louie’s voice caught in his throat and it came out as more of a snarl. “Everything’s perfect. Things would be better though if everyone would just mind their own business!”

The yell echoed through the caves. From up ahead, the noise died down.

“Everything alright back there?!” Della called.

“Louie saw a large spider and got scared!” Lena lied easily, as easily as Louie used to be able to, should still be able to, only apparently he was losing his touch.

“Hurry up!” Dewey yelled, satisfied with the excuse. “The readings on Gyro’s machine are going crazy!”

“Maybe that’s because Gyro made it and not because anything’s there.” Louie muttered to himself. It felt nice to make one of his usual cynical remarks, and then he immediately felt bad. He was trying to be better than this.

_“…you gotta stop…”_

Sighing, Louie hurried to catch up with Lena on her heels. The light from the torches cast their shadows against the wall, tall and looming. From somewhere unseen, a light breeze whistled. Small chirps from above signalled that there were probably bats hidden away in the crevices of the roof. Louie couldn’t really see why anyone thought it was haunted though. It was just your basic cave.

As if his mere thoughts had set off something, the breeze became a wind that whipped and whirled through the caverns. It tugged fiercely on Louie’s hoodie and ruffled his feathers. Accompanying the wind was a low, mournful howl.

Louie shivered.

“Stay close.” Uncle Scrooge ordered. “Something’s happening.”

Fighting against the wind that was swiftly becoming a gale, Louie made his way to where his brothers stood, shining their torches around the caves in an attempt to spot anything mysterious lurking in the shadows. Huey spotted him and a relieved smile spread across his face. Great, Louie had worried him again.

“What do you think it is?” Dewey asked excitedly.

“Some sort of abnormal wind current.” Huey answered promptly.

“Boring.” Dewey booed. “I hope it’s a ghost. Right mum?”

“Heck yeah.” Della bounced up and down with Gyro’s contraption in her hand.

“We have a ghost butler. What’s so exciting about this ghost?” Louie couldn’t help but ask.

“Aren’t you excited about the unknown? Solving the mystery?” Webby pointed out.

_Not really, since I’m not the one doing it._

“Sure.” Louie shrugged and looked away. “Can’t wait.”

(If only he’d turned back, he would’ve noticed the concerned looks everyone gave him)

“Stay alert kids.” Uncle Donald barked as the wind carried the sorrowful howl towards them, louder this time, and growing. “We don’t want to be taken by surprise.”

“Louie, what do you make of this?” Della asked.

“Huh?” Louie startled, surprised to be included in the conversation. “Nothing?”

“No angles?”

_No, since apparently I can’t do that anymore_

“It’s too dark to see anything.” He said instead.

“That never stopped Scrooge McDuck.” Louie’s uncle boasted as he brandished his cane at whatever invisible foe (or strange wind formation) they were facing.

“I still think this is just a strange weather occurrence.” Huey was attempting to read his Junior Woodchuck Guidebook with the feeble light of his torch.

“Dude, we have a ghost butler.” Dewey brought up Louie’s previous point. “Are you telling me you don’t believe in them anyway?”

“No, I accept Duckworth’s role in our life. I just don’t think this is a paranormal experience.”

“Let’s just get this over with.” Louie grumbled. “It’s cold in here.”

“You’re like the only one wearing appropriate clothes for that.” Lena snarked.

“Uncle Scrooge is wearing a really big coat.” Webby pointed out.

“Can we have this talk later?” Huey complained.

Louie turned away, accepting this as he accepted most things these days. If he wanted to get this over with, they had to work out exactly what was going on here. Huey thought it was abnormal weather patterns, Dewey was sure it was a ghost and it looked like everyone else agreed with him. Louie was hoping for the former but expecting the later. In their line of work, nothing could ever just be a normal every day occurrence.

The howling that had continued to grow and grow with every gust of wind had now reached its apparent crescendo.

“What do you think it is?” Della asked, apparently deciding to turn their adventure into a lesson by asking a question everyone had already answered.

“The wind.”

“A ghost!”

“…”

“Louie?”

“Maybe it’s a wind ghost.” Bless Webby and her ability to power through any awkward situation by not realising it was even awkward in the first place. “Do you sense anything Lena?”

“Just because I do dark magic and all that and was kind of a ghost for a while doesn’t mean I can sense other ghosts.” Lena sighed.

“So that’s a no?”

“Can we just go back to Launchpad?” Louie grumbled. “Get him to aim the plane’s headlights in the cave. They’re much brighter than our torches. Maybe we’ll actually see something.”

“That’s a great idea Louie!” Della threw her arms up and made a move like she was about to hug him. Before he could stop himself, Louie flinched and stepped away.

The hurt on Della’s face was clear for everyone to see, even with the darkness pressing in on them. Louie tried to ignore it, tried to pretend that nothing was wrong and that he’d stepped away just because.

“Let’s head back.” Uncle Scrooge ploughed on as always. “We’ll try the lad’s idea.”

_I have a name. Or have you forgotten that already, now that I’m back to being the shame of the family._

Well, at least they were finally leaving the miserable cave. Louie’s idea had been less of a cool new way to try the adventure and more of an attempt to get them to just go home. He didn’t want to voice his disgust though. He knew he should just be thankful he was allowed to join them again.

As the group turned to make their way back to the Sunchaser (Though Della still refused to call it that) a low rumbling started up, cutting through the ever-present howl that Louie had managed to tune out.

“What’s that?” He asked nervously. “And don’t say the wind, Huey. Wind doesn’t sound like that.”

“It could be a possible cave in.” Huey offered.

“Gee, because that’s better.”

“I don’t like the sound of that.” Uncle Donald said nervously, which usually wasn’t that big a deal when you considered Uncle Donald’s tendency to worry about everything, but he’d been a little less…overprotective since the moon and so now Louie was worried.

“Move out.” Webby barked a mock order, sharing a giggle with Lena as she did. It was nice to see everyone still having fun, but Louie was still acutely aware of how loud the rumbling was and how close it seemed to be getting. Everyone else seemed happy to trail back to the plane at a leisurely pace while Louie had been suddenly struck with the need to get out of the cave now, now, now!

“Woah!” Huey exclaimed. “Can you feel that? The ground’s moving!”

“That’s not good.” Louie gulped. “Can we go faster?”

“It’s hard to navigate these blasted caves lad. Be patient. Nothing’s going to go wrong.” Uncle Scrooge assured him.

_Everything always goes wrong!_

“Don’t move!” Della yelled abruptly. “Nobody move.”

Louie was sweating now. The cave was too hot all of a sudden and he was struck with the sudden urge to rip is hoodie off.

“What’s wrong?” Lena peered around.

“Above us.” Della whispered. “Try to be quiet. I think we’re in the middle of the cave-in. Any sudden movements and this whole thing could come crashing down on us.”

“This got less cool really fast.” Dewey muttered. It was probably meant to lighten the mood but Louie didn’t think this was the kind of situation that could be made fun of.

“How can you tell?” Webby asked curiously as if this was the perfect time for a lesson.

“Just can.” Della hissed back. “Alright, here’s what we’re gonna wanna do. We need to slide one by one out of this area, very slowly. Once we’re past it, we should be okay. Not big footsteps. Just try to edge along the ground. Don’t touch anything. We can only move one at a time. No loud noises either. Got it?”

Everyone nodded rather than responding. It was impressive how quickly Della had worked everything out. The only thing to decided now was the order of who would leave. Naturally, the adults were going to go last but that still left the kids to work out an order. And no matter what happened, no matter how the order was worked out, no matter what reasoning, Louie knew he was going to pick it apart and relate it back to all his insecurities like he always did.

“Webby first, then Lena, then Huey, then Louie, then Dewey.” Della decided.

_Second to last, huh? And you know Dewey’s only last because he’ll kick up a fuss if he has to go first. Looks like they don’t care about you._

_Why are we complaining about this? It’s good that the others will be safe. If the whole cave falls, at least I’ll be the only one hurt. It’s what I deserve._

“I’ll go last.” Louie heard himself say.

“What?” Della shot him a look.

“I’ll go last.” He repeated. “Don’t wanna be the reason more bad things happen.”

_“Look…your plans…your schemes…they only lead to bad things for you family. If you wanna be a part of this family, you gotta stop.”_

Della’s face crumpled. “Louie, I…”

“There’s no time to argue!” Donald interrupted. “We have to move.”

So slowly, gently, with the light of the torches to guide her, Webby slid away from them and towards the exit. Della kept her eyes on the roof, a single beam of light trained there so she could tell when Webby was out of danger. The moment the girl was, Lena was instructed to move. The shadows appeared to cling to her as she ventured out into them but they were still able to watch her pick her way towards where Webby was waiting anxiously.

It was when Huey started his journey that things started to go wrong. The ever-present wind abruptly disappeared. There was no gradual lessening of its strength, it just…stopped. A single scream shattered the air before the haunting howl fell silent as well. The only noise to continue was the threatening rumbling of the rocks and it had no qualms about growing louder and louder.

“Huey, stop!” Della cried, momentarily forgetting to remain quiet.

Huey froze in place, right below one of the clusters of rocks that was ready to fall.

“No, move!” Louie screamed. “Keep going!”

It wouldn’t matter now if the rocks fell and separated the two groups. What did matter was if Huey was underneath them, and Louie wasn’t about to let that happen.

_“Look…your plans…your schemes…they only lead to bad things for you family…”_

Not this one. Not this time.

Even with Louie’s frantic cries to move, Huey remained frozen. It was an unfortunate habit of his when he was scared but it had never placed him in this much danger before. The rumbling grew louder and louder until it was almost deafening. Nobody was moving, trying to abide by Della’s plan but Louie could tell deep down that this wasn’t going to work anymore. He could see the angles again.

Huey was going to die.

Louie was moving before he truly knew what he was doing. It was like his body was suddenly calling the shots and his mind was just along for the ride. There was only one thought he could process and it consumed every inch of his being.

_Save Huey Save Huey Save Huey Save Huey Save Huey Save Huey Save Huey Save Huey_

The rocks above them broke free of their tentative grip and fell towards the oldest triplet but they were too late.

(Too late for him, that is)

Louie was already there, and he pushed Huey out of the way with all his strength. Huey stumbled backwards out from under the rocks and rolled across the cave floor to where Lena and Webby were waiting, equal expressions of horror etched onto their faces. Lena’s hand was outstretched towards Louie, probably in an attempt to do some magic and save him, but it was too late.

Too late for the rocks to hit Huey, too late for Lena to help Louie.

_“Look…your plans…your schemes…they only lead to bad things for your family…”_

It hadn’t been too late for Louie to do it differently this time. It hadn’t been too late for him to stop being the cause of trouble and start being better.

Louie had one final thought before the rocks hit him.

_This is going to hurt._

And it did.

* * *

_There was a cat sitting in front of him. The cat was green. That didn’t sit right with him. Cats weren’t meant to be green._

_The cat disappeared._

_Cats weren’t meant to do that either. _

_The cat had been sitting on some rocks, and now that it was gone, he noticed them. They were big, dark, oppressive boulders that were clustered together. Peering closer, he noticed a bit of green sticking out from underneath them. Was someone stuck under the rocks?_

_There was some red stuff too._

Blood. Your blood.

_It wasn’t as interesting as the cat. He wished it’d come back._

_The cat came back. That didn’t feel right. _

_“Hello.” The cat spoke. Something was definitely wrong with that._

_He wanted to speak but it was like he didn’t have a mouth. Or anything really. He wasn’t anything._

_But there was a cat._

_“Wake up.” Said the cat._

_He hadn’t even known he was asleep._

_“We miss you.”_

_We? Was there more than one cat?_

_No other cats appeared._

_He didn’t like the cat anymore. He wanted it to go away._

_It did._

_So did he._

* * *

“You can’t blame yourself.”

Huey looked up at the source of the words. Surprisingly, Lena was standing there. She’d found his hideout in one of the dark corners of the manor and had for some reason, taken it upon herself to confront Huey about the guilt he was feeling.

Well, it wasn’t going to work like that.

“Yes, I can.” Huey turned away from her.

“It’s not your fault.”

“Yes, it is.”

Lena sighed and crouched down in front of Huey. She was much, much taller than him but Huey was too caught up in what had happened two days ago to be intimidated. Louie had done something bad, and now he wasn’t with them, was asleep, wasn’t waking up, was hurt, so hurt, so, so hurt.

“He literally pushed me out of the way of falling rocks and got crushed instead.” Huey’s breath hitched. “How is that not my fault.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong.” Lena said.

“He was saving me.” Huey shook his head angrily. “If I hadn’t frozen up like an idiot, none of this would’ve happened.”

“I think something like this was going to happen eventually.” Lena remarked.

Huey frowned. “What does that mean?”

“You can’t tell me you hadn’t noticed.” Lena plunked herself fully down in front of Huey. “How weird he’s been lately. Avoiding everyone and keeping quiet and stuff.”

“Well, yeah.” Huey nodded. “I’d noticed that. But what does that have to do with him sacrificing himself for me?”

“I think…” Here, Lena paused. It was strange for her to be here having a deep and meaningful with Huey, and apparently she felt just as awkward. “Look, I’m about to get weirdly personal with you because I guess Webby’s gotten inside my head and I hate seeing you moping around.”

“Huh?”

“Just take me seriously for a second, okay.” Lena fixed him with a pleading look. It was such an out of character moment that Huey ended up just nodding.

“Okay.”

“It’s clear to me that the Green one has been seriously doubting his place in the family.” Lena explained. “He’s been way too quiet, hasn’t been coming up with any of his usual plans, avoids you all and gives lame excuses when you ask why. It’s like his personality just did a complete one eighty. He’s weirdly…sad. As someone…as someone who knows what it’s like to doubt your relationships with other people, it’s hard to miss the signs. I think what Louie did for you was his way of proving to himself that he belongs with you.”

“That’s crazy!” Huey burst out. “Why would he nearly get himself killed just to make a point. For all he knew, he could’ve died!”

Lena looked down at her hands. “Yeah. I think…I think he wouldn’t have minded.”

Huey recoiled as if the words had been a physical blow. “You can’t mean that. You _don’t _mean that.”

“Remember what I said about knowing what this is like.” Lena smiled weakly. “Trust me.”

Huey didn’t want to. He didn’t want to believe anything Lena was saying was true. He didn’t want to think about his youngest brother feeling alone and isolated, sad enough to think that it didn’t matter what happened to him as long as everyone else was okay.

Only, Huey _was_ starting to believe it.

“But why?” He said finally. “Why would Louie feel like that? I don’t understand.”

“Something probably triggered it.” Lena shrugged. “Can you think of anything?”

_“No…not this time.”_

“Maybe.” Huey tugged his cap off and rubbed at his feathers anxiously. “I hope I’m wrong, though.”

“Why?”

Huey didn’t really want to explain things to Lena, but she had gone out of her way to help him, so he owed her one.

“Cause if I am, then this is way worse than I thought. This isn’t just about Louie feeling left out. It’s about him and mum.”

“I take it that’s still a fresh wound with him?” Lena raised an eyebrow.

“I thought they’d worked it out.” Huey confessed. “I thought things were okay between them. I guess I was just looking for things that weren’t real.”

“Hey.” Lena climbed back up to her feet and shot Huey a look. “Remember what I said. This isn’t your fault.”

“Okay.” Huey lied.

Because the thing was, no matter how many times she said that, he just wasn’t going to be able to believe it.

* * *

Della had never imagined this was the sort of life she’d come back to when she escaped the moon. She’d been a little too naive when it came to her daydreams about life on earth. She’d thought that she’d just come home, and everything would be fine and great. Instead, Della had had to come to terms with the fact that her absence in the boys’ life had left some serious damage, particularly on Louie it appeared.

And now, here she was, sitting at her son’s bedside, praying for him to wake up after two days of him remaining trapped in sleep. He’d done something stupidly brave and was now paying the price, his body crumpled and broken after being crushed by a cave-in they’d been trying to escape. Even though it was his own actions that had caused this, Della knew it was her fault.

Louie never would have tried to be so brave if she hadn’t threatened his place in the family.

The thing was, it was hard being a mum. Ten years of fantasies didn’t exactly prepare you for what it was going to be like. Della didn’t have the chance to grow with them. She didn’t know what they were like. Sometimes it felt like she’d been back for ages and she still wasn’t sure about a lot of things regarding her sons. Dewey was doing his best to be an open book, and Huey was receptive to bonding exercises, but Louie was hostile and careless, and Della had seen in him the same signs she’d seen in him.

That need to be better, to prove one’s self to others, to put validation first and everything else second.

She thought they’d moved past this though. Uncle Scrooge had spoken fondly of Louie’s encounter with the Bombie and how he’d proved to be humble around others and mature enough to admit his mistakes and remedy them. And then of course, there’d been the whole deal with the moon invasion and Louie had been all too happy to comfort Della and help her regain her confidence. She’d been so sure he’d learnt his lesson and that he could finally start being a part of the family again, but it appeared she’d done some damage.

Stupid. Stupid, stupid Della. Why did she have to mess everything up? All she’d done since she’d gotten back was make mistake after mistake. Her confrontation with Louie had been her chance to prove herself as a mum and she’d failed.

She’d failed herself and she’d failed Louie.

“Wake up.” She whispered to his limp form. “Please, wake up. We miss you.”

She didn’t think she’d been wrong in telling Louie off. If he’d gone unchecked, maybe one day he’d have ended up missing from their lives as well, gone off somewhere in a desperate attempt to prove himself. Watching Huey and Dewey vanish from existence had been heartbreaking. There had been a real moment of fear there that this was going to be their last adventure. Louie couldn’t keep going on like that.

But maybe Della had been too harsh to tell Louie that if he didn’t stop, he would have to seriously consider his role in the family. She didn’t know what sort of insecurities he had. The two of them had never had conversations like that. She honestly hadn’t meant to touch a nerve.

Now if only Louie would wake up so she could tell him that herself.

* * *

_He was a cat._

_It was nice being a cat. He got to sleep all the time. It felt like all he wanted to do at the moment was sleep. He felt tired all the time. _

_People kept yelling at him._

_“Wake up!”_

_“Stop being so selfish!”_

_“We can’t do this without you.”_

_The thing was, he didn’t know what any of it meant._

_He was just a cat._

_He thought he maybe understood what ‘wake up’ meant. He thought that maybe, if that was something everyone wanted, it might be something he could do._

_For some reason, he really wanted to please the voices. He didn’t want to them to get sad and leave._

_He thought that if they did leave, he wouldn’t like it here anymore. He wouldn’t like being a cat._

_“Wake up, Louie. Please. Please, we miss you. We miss you so much.”_

_It sounded like something he could do. He had a feeling that he wasn’t good at doing much, but that this was one thing he could give to the voices._

_He woke up._

* * *

Four days after the incident in the cave (they never would figure out if the cave really was haunted or just the victim of bizarre weather happenings) Webby came running into the kitchen from the room Louie was sleeping in with the news they’d all been waiting to hear.

“He’s awake!” She cried and leapt into Lena’s arms, the taller girl easily catching her smaller friend. “Louie’s awake.”

Della was on her feet in an instant and running off down the hall, ignoring the shouts from behind her. There was nothing in this universe that was going to stop her from getting to her son.

“Mum, wait!” Huey and Dewey were on her heels. They obviously wanted to see their brother and Della couldn’t blame them but she really needed to talk to Louie first, alone.

“Boys.” Della skidded to a stop and turned to face her two oldest kids. “I know you want to see Louie.”

“More like need to see Louie.” Huey corrected.

“Yeah, that.” Della rocked back and forth anxiously, noting the comforting squeak of her metal leg. “The thing is, I need to talk to him first.”

“What? Why?” Dewey sounded heartbroken.

“There’s some things we need to discuss.”

“Is Louie in trouble?” Huey asked angrily. Della should’ve been offended that the anger was directed at her, but she was mostly just proud at how protective Huey was.

“Of course not.” Della assured him. “It’s just…how do I put this, um-uh, let’s see…”

“You want to apologise to Louie for making him feel like he didn’t belong in the family.” Huey stated flatly.

“Yes, that!” Hang on… “How do you know about that?”

“Me and Lena talked.”

“When was this?” Dewey was really getting upset now. “Why don’t I know about this.”

“You knew something was up with Louie, right?” Huey asked.

“Yeah, duh.”

“It’s because of what happened when mum grounded him.”

Della winced.

“Oh, is that why he was calling her Della instead of mum?” Dewey’s expression cleared as he finally connected the dots.

“He was doing that?” There was an ache in the back of Della’s throat.

“Yeah…” Huey looked down. “Just when you weren’t around. He didn’t want to upset you. He’s stupidly selfish like that.”

For a moment, the family paused, all thinking of the horrific sight of watching Louie’s body buried under a ton of rock.

“This is why I need to talk to him alone.” Della said finally. “We can’t just let this fester. If we don’t talk about it, things won’t ever change. Me and Louie need to work out what’s wrong between us and try to fix it.”

“I don’t want anything to be wrong.” Dewey’s eyes watered with tears that he stubbornly refused to shed. “I want us to be a family.”

“We will be.” Della said firmly. “Me and Louie are going to work things out right now.”

“And we just have to wait?” Huey still sounded upset at the prospect of waiting to see his brother.

“Please?” Della begged. “I need to fix this.”

“Okay.” Huey conceded. “Just please…” He trailed off, clearly unsure of what he wanted right now. Della got it. This was a confusing time.

“Right, okay.” She faced the door to Louie’s make-shift hospital room. “Let’s do this.”

She went in.

* * *

Louie’s last thought had been a frantic observation that he was in a lot of pain, before he blacked out and ceased to know anything. When he regained consciousness, his first thought was that he was still in a lot of pain, but it didn’t feel as bad as the first lot of pain.

His second thought was the realisation that Webby was standing over him and saying a bunch of things in her usual fast pace and that he couldn’t make out any of it. It was a miracle when she left, though not one that lasted long. She’d definitely gone to get the others, and this probably wasn’t going to lead to a nice, cheery conversation about how cool Louie was. He could imagine Uncle Donald’s meltdown already.

_“How could you be so stupid, Llewellyn?!”_

Urgh, he hated it when they brought out the full name.

And what would Huey do? Yell at him in the same way? It was funny to think how similar Huey and Uncle Donald were when they got angry. He could already picture it now, both of them jumping around and shouting incomprehensibly. Louie wheezed out a laugh and then winced when a deep pain erupted in his chest. Gee, had he broken every bone in his body? It sure felt like it.

Footsteps sounded somewhere in the house, loud and frantic and partially uneven. In other words, Della’s footsteps. Louie winced again and this time it wasn’t from the pain he was in. He was probably due for another talk about endangering his brothers. After all, it was probably him yelling at Huey to move that set off the cave-in. Wasn’t he meant to be better than this now? Why did he keep messing up?

The door burst open, cutting off Louie’s thoughts and momentarily distracting him from just how much he hurt all over, which was pretty impressive considering just how injured he was. He didn’t exactly have a good view of the door considering he was lying down (and also because the bedside table was covered in flowers and boxes of sweets that blocked his vision) but it was clear that it was Della who had arrived. The squeaking of her metal leg only helped confirm that as she approached the bed and popped up in his line of sight.

“Hey, buddy.” Her voice was soft, comforting. It wasn’t at all what Louie had been expecting. “How you feeling?”

Louie opened his mouth to talk and was surprised to find it almost impossible to get any words out. He was suddenly aware of how dry his throat was. “Uh…bad.”

Della laughed. “Yeah, figures. I’ve got some painkillers for you to take if you’d like, but you need something to eat first. That okay?”

“Yes.” He’d do anything if it meant the pain for stop for even just a second. “Why aren’t I…hospital?”

“Mrs Beakley is a trained doctor.”

Of course she was.

“Why aren’t I…” Louie struggled to get the words out. “You know…drugs…”

“Why aren’t you on morphine or something?” Della asked. Louie nodded and then regretted it instantly. “You didn’t know? You’re allergic to opioid painkillers.”

Seriously? He would just have to put up with this pain?

(Side note, how did Della know that?)

“Mrs B is bringing up some soup for you, I think. We’ll get a bit of that into you and then you can take these tablets.” Della held up a packet.

Louie blinked wearily at her. He’d barely said fifteen words and yet he was so incredibly tired. It was like any energy he had was dedicated to fighting off the pain.

Della must have noticed this because she reached out and smoothed some of Louie’s feathers down. He was proud that he didn’t flinch away, and relieved that her touch was more calming than pain inducing.

“Once you’ve taken these, you can go to sleep. I’ll be right with you when you wake up.”

Oh yeah. They still needed to have a talk. She still needed to tell him off again.

Louie wasn’t looking forward to waking up.

* * *

_When he dreamt this time, he knew who he was, where he was and why he was._

_There was no cat._

_There was just Huey, eyes wide with fright as he watched the rocks fall towards him._

_There was just Dewey, being held back behind him, helpless to do anything but watch._

_And there was just him._

* * *

When Louie woke up the next time, Della calmly informed him that he’d slept through to the next day. It was jarring to have lost so much time but he did feel a bit better so he couldn’t really complain. He was able to sit up in his bed (propped up on many a pillow) and sip at some more soup and take another lot of the non-allergy inducing medication. Once everything was cleared away, Louie stared anxiously around the room he was in. It was some sort of guest room, one of many that Scrooge’s house boasted, and it felt very impersonal.

“Where are Huey and Dewey?” He asked. “They’re not hurt too are they?!”

“No, no, not at all.” Della was quick to assure him. “They’re really excited to see you but I explained that we had to have a talk first.”

Oh boy, it was coming. He could picture the conversation in clear detail.

_“This is the last straw. You nearly got Huey killed. You’re out of the family.”_

Ouch. That brief imagined conversation had managed to hurt more than his injuries did. Speaking of which…

“How hurt am I?” It was easier to speak now that he’d had some soup to soothe his throat. “What’s wrong with me?”

Della shifted uncomfortably but she opened her beak to answer nonetheless. “Your entire chest was crushed. Most of your ribs are broken or bruised. You managed to avoid hitting your head too hard but you probably have a concussion. You have a lot of cuts and bruises but that’s about it. You were really lucky, Louie.”

“I don’t feel lucky.” He grumbled.

“You could have died!” Della exploded. Louie flinched and she quietened down almost instantly. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to shout. I was just scared. You understand that, right?”

Louie nodded cautiously.

“When we managed to get you out from under those rocks, there was so much blood. You weren’t moving, you were barely breathing. I have never been more scared in my life before. I thought I’d gotten you killed.”

_So? Better you than Huey. Huey actually belongs here. You don’t._

_I know…_

“I really need to tell you something, Louie.”

“Okay.” Louie was already bracing himself, ready for the inevitable disownment.

“I am so, so sorry about what I said before. After the timephoon. I don’t think I was wrong to ground you, but it was wrong of me to threaten your place in the family. It’s my fault this happened. You never would have done this if I hadn’t made you question everything.”

What?

No seriously, what?

This wasn’t what was meant to be happening at all. Della was meant to be shouting and screaming, angry at what he’d done. This was meant to be the end of everything. He’d messed up, big time, and it was time he payed the price for it.

“No.” he whispered. “No, it’s not your fault. I did a stupid thing. I risked Huey’s life by shouting at him. I made the rocks fall. Why aren’t you angry at me?”

“If I’m going to be angry at someone, I’m going to be angry at me.” Della snorted. “I’m new to this mum thing and I’m trying, I really am. I didn’t stop to consider what sort of impact my words would have on you. I really hit a nerve, didn’t I…?”

“Well…” Louie didn’t want to be blunt, because he was trying to be better than that. If Della blamed herself for this, then that was wrong. “No, you didn’t. Everything you said and did needed to be said and done. You were right. My schemes had gone too far. I needed to be stopped.”

“But I went too far! Don’t you see that?”

_“Look…your plans…your schemes…they only lead to bad things for you family. If you wanna be a part of this family, you gotta stop.”_

“You didn’t!” It hurt to yell but Louie wasn’t sure what other way was going to get through to his mum.

“I did! You might not think I did, but I did. I’ve made you into someone you’re not, Louie. You’ve been so quiet and sullen lately. You don’t offer ideas or try to join in on adventures. You’re avoiding your brothers and Webby. You’ve been avoiding _me. _When I put my foot down and stopped your schemes, this wasn’t what I wanted to happen. I wanted you to think about the consequences and then try again, but different. You’ve just stopped trying altogether and it’s my fault. You think you don’t belong with us but that’s not true!”

“But I hurt everyone! You said it yourself. Everything I do just causes trouble for everyone. When have I ever done something good for the family? Saving Huey, that was a good thing. I finally did something right, but it was my fault it even happened in the first place. That’s why I had to make up for it. I have to make up for what I’ve done wrong.”

“Louie, what you did to save Huey was really brave. But it was also really stupid and dangerous. You could’ve died.” Della softened her voice.

“Alright, so then I have nothing. I am nothing. You told me to stop and that’s what I’m trying to do!” he yelled back, voice breaking over the words.

“And I’m telling you _I was wrong_!” Della screamed.

Louie stared at her. Suddenly, any words he might’ve said back were beyond him. All he could do was watch as his mum cried.

“I’m so bad at this mum thing, and that’s my fault. I thought I was finally doing something good, being responsible. Instead, I just said the wrong thing like always. Don’t try and tell me I didn’t. I said it before, I stand by grounding you. I know you think that too. But you have to agree with me that I took it a step too far. Please, Louie. I’m the one who messed up. Not you.”

“But…”

“I’m the adult here, and you’re just a kid. It was wrong for me to put so much pressure on you in such a terrible way. You’re part of the family, Louie, more than I am at the moment. I never should have made you doubt that.”

Louie was crying now too. “I…I…”

“I’m sorry.” Della held out her hands and this time, Louie didn’t flinch away. He let her gently embrace him, careful of his injuries, and then the two of them just sat there.

There was this weight that had been hovering over Louie and now it had seemed to detach and float free.

_“Look…your plans…your schemes…they only lead to bad things for you family. If you wanna be a part of this family, you gotta stop.”_

Those words that had been hanging over him, clinging to him floated free with it.

“Hey mum…” Louie whispered into her chest.

“Yeah?”

“You’re a part of this family too.”

She didn’t say anything, but her grip on Louie tightened and he realised that everything was going to be okay.

* * *

Later that night, Della dropped by Louie’s room again. She felt worn out but relaxed after their conversation earlier that day. They’d said things that needed to be said and it felt like she and Louie were finally ready to be a proper family. She hadn’t done right by the boys for a long time but now was the time to fix that.

She peered into the room to check if her youngest son was awake and the scene she saw nearly had her crying again. A smile spread over her face as she took it all in.

Louie was fast asleep in his temporary bed, tucked under the covers and breathing deeply. Curled up on either side of him were his brothers. Huey had his head tucked into Louie’s neck while Dewey was clinging to his arm. Both were also asleep, small smiles spread over their face at the knowledge that their brother was going to be okay.

Webby was asleep at the end of the bed, just as much a part of the family as ever. Watching over her was Lena, awake and scanning the room for any potential signs of danger. When the teen saw Della, she held a finger to her beak and winked.

Smiling, Della left the kids to it.

Everything was going to be okay.

**Author's Note:**

> I just had, had, had to write something about the end of season 2. I had so many feelings about it which I hope I got across in this.
> 
> To be clear, I think Della was right to scold Louie, and that he needed to be grounded. I also think Della took it too far in that she threatened his place in the family and Louie had a right to be upset about this. At the end of the day, I'm glad they made up but I wanted to address it in a fic anyway.
> 
> Please leave kudos and comments if you liked! I really want to know if I did this sort of relationship justice
> 
> Edit: So someone drew me some amazing fanart for this! Seriously check it out it's amazing   
https://spotty-bee.tumblr.com/post/187994618967/fanart-for-a-ducktales-fanfiction-i-read-its


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